Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

mrtew · Jan 12, 2003, 06:15 PM

I think my video card is messed up on my new TiGz. Do you know anything about that? My screen gets really hairy horizontal lines ALL over it, and then the computer freezes solid. It happens every day. The system error log repeats the following many dozens of times when this happens. Is it the video card? Do I need to send it back? Should I take it to the Apple Store in the mall where I bought it or call Apple? Has someone else had this happen? Please help me with any info.

Jan 11 19:08:44 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:08:44 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:08:44 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:08:44 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:08:50 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:09:41 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:09:41 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:09:41 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:09:41 John-Tewksburys-Computer mach_kernel: ATIRadeon::submit_buffer: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 5, need 6. RBBM_STATUS 0x80010140
Jan 11 19:11:27 John-Tewksburys-Computer syslogd: restart

seanyepez · Jan 12, 2003, 06:20 PM

It is likely your video card. Try reinstalling Mac OS X. If that doesn't work, it's your video memory. In that case, a trip to Apple is in order.

active · Jan 12, 2003, 06:38 PM

I get this problem, see my other post, from tonight, about the same subject!

I don't get crashes/freezes though...

Spoke with some guys at MacFormat (as I work at Future Publishing) who said it sounds like a graphic driver related issue with the new Radeon 9000, as the problem only occurs within OS X.

Chris.

mrtew · Jan 12, 2003, 07:20 PM

Originally posted by active:
I get this problem, see my other post, from tonight, about the same subject!

...often when I turn on the machine, and when it awakens from a long (by long, I mean around a few hours) sleep, the screen is corrupted by red vertical lines. You get the lines when moving around windows - ie. a kind of red vertical line trail, where the edge of the windows had been!

I don't get crashes/freezes though...

Spoke with some guys at MacFormat (as I work at Future Publishing) who said it sounds like a graphic driver related issue with the new Radeon 9000, as the problem only occurs within OS X.

Yeah, I did see your post. The lines sound much different though, mine are very hairy and totally horizontal, like the screen is being blurred to the left, like a photoshop speed motion blur. Also mine is almost always accompanied by a total freeze. Another big difference is that I did see it when booted up in OS9. I just don't know whether to send it in, because I can use it for several hours sometimes before it happens, and I can't make it happen, but it does almost every day at least once and it really suks. Tell me if you figure out what your problem is!

davcomp · Jan 12, 2003, 07:32 PM

It is a bad video card I bet. My 800Mhz TiBook did the same types of things when I first got it. Apple sent it back with a new logic board (because it contains the video card) and it worked fine.

Something you might try is flipping through screensavers and testing them all full screen. The fading ones wouldn't dissappear properly and they would all fade over one another on mine. All sorts of weird OpenGL problems accompanied this problem.

Also, try dragging a window around for awhile, this also caused my 800Mhz to freeze. Either way, call Apple, most likely they will have to fix it.

mrtew · 11:55 PM

Well, I think it must be a bad video card because I wiped my drive and reinstalled OSX from the disk, and it has done the screenblur/freeze two more times with nothing at all on the computer except the bare install, although the graphics seem perfectly fine when it's not happening, even on the fade screensavers. I called apple and they acted very suspicious of me (probably because everyone and their brother is trying to return their new Ti's for an AluBook) but they finally said they were going to send a box and repair it. I sure hope it is fixed and in good condition when it gets back? Are davcomp and I really the only ones that this problem has happenend to? I feel so alone.

mrtew · Jan 17, 2003, 08:09 PM

Well I called to check on my repair today and they said they are waiting for a part to repair it.... the display clamshell!!! I asked if that was the whole screen, and they said it's everything but the lcd itself!!! I thought the whole thing was glued together and couldn't be dis-assembled. Has anyone ever heard of replacing the clamshell? This is on a new TiGigHz. At least I will know if the girl was right when it gets back and I see if my lit pixel is still there in the same place.

mrtew · Jan 18, 2003, 07:57 AM

Originally posted by mrtew:
Well I called to check on my repair today and they said they are waiting for a part to repair it.... the display clamshell!!! I asked if that was the whole screen, and they said it's everything but the lcd itself!!! I thought the whole thing was glued together and couldn't be dis-assembled. Has anyone ever heard of replacing the clamshell?

Gosh MrTew, that's a good question! I thought the entire display on TiBooks was one part replacement too. I wonder if anyone else has had just the 'clamshell' replaced too. I hope that all the knowledgable people on this forum haven't been driven away by the 12 year olds fighting over who's laptop is bigger than who's. I hope you get an answer to your question.

iBorg · 10:06 AM

My Ti SD seems to have developed this very same problem over the past few days, unfortunately.

When I first received my Ti, about 5 weeks ago, I got some type of "video noise" screen distortion when I moved it from one room to another, while "on." The horizontal-oriented distortion only occurred while moving it, and was followed by a freeze, requiring a force-restart. It happened twice.

It went away after resetting the Power Mangement Unit, but has now recurred, and resetting the PMU now has no effect. Now, {b]every[/b] time I move my Ti around, even picking it up and tipping it forward/backward, causes the screen distortion, followed by a freeze. It looks like horizontal, shimmering lines of distortion of the screen, sometimes in a small area, but generally over the entire screen. The freeze follows. It never happens without moving the PowerBook. It happens while running on battery, but also plugged into AC.

I've talked with Apple Tech Support, and they're sending me a return box for repair. The Tech had no idea what could cause this - he'd never heard of it before. I'm really hopeful that my screen doesn't need to be replaced, because it's flawless, with no bad pixels, etc.

A couple of other things I've noticed:
1. Doesn't awaken from sleep, if longer than a few minutes. This is documented all over the place at Apple discussion boards, etc., and I haven't seen a solution - I don't know if it's related to the other problem.
2. Just today, I had a problem in which my Ti didn't recognize that the AC was plugged in - no plug-in indicator light, and the battery was draining with use! I unplugged from the Ti, but plugging in again had no effect -- after unplugging the AC adaptor from the wall and plugging back in, all was well again. Again, this has been discussed here and elsewhere as a Ti problem.

I'm really bummed about this - the screen, paint, speed, etc. has been superb, the fans don't run excessively, and are very quiet. I'm wondering if all these problems are related. I'm running OS 10.2.3, but the initial episodes occured while running 10.2.1, which it shipped with. I have 2 x 512 ram, installed by Apple. My Ti is the 1 GHz model.

Let me know what you find out - I'll keep you posted on what Apple does with mine, also.

Good luck to us both .......

iBorg

goMac · Jan 18, 2003, 12:34 PM

Originally posted by mrtew:
Well I called to check on my repair today and they said they are waiting for a part to repair it.... the display clamshell!!! I asked if that was the whole screen, and they said it's everything but the lcd itself!!! I thought the whole thing was glued together and couldn't be dis-assembled. Has anyone ever heard of replacing the clamshell? This is on a new TiGigHz. At least I will know if the girl was right when it gets back and I see if my lit pixel is still there in the same place.

I hate to say it, but I'll call your attention to this thread here:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

The clamshell might not be the problem.

iBorg · Jan 19, 2003, 03:05 AM

Perhaps my problems are just beginning ......

I've been experiencing the failure to awaken regularly now - if I put my Ti to sleep for a short time, it awakens fine - but if it's asleep for more than a few minutes, as from work-to-home, when I open the lid, the pulsing light stops, the harddrive spins up, but the screen remains dark - the "caps lock" and "num lock" keys will light up if pressed, but the screen never comes on, making a forced-restart necessary. Because of this, I've been shutting-down, instead of sleeping, but tonight, my screen remained dark upon startup, requiring a force-restart. This has never happened before.

Also tonight, I noticed the "video noise/screen flicker" happen twice without moving my Ti, but it lasted for only 10-15 seconds each time, and did not end with a hard freeze, as it does when I move it.

And, as per my previous post, last evening I had the AC adaptor problem, wherein my Ti was plugged in, but no light showed on the AC adaptor, and my battery continued to drain. Unplugging/replugging into the Ti had no effect, but unplugging/replugging at the wall socket solved it. Weird. Only happened once.

I don't know if any, or all, of these problems are even related, but they're all appearing simlultaneously, too much to be coincidence.

goMac, the AppleCare thread you referenced contains posts about 3 separate problems:
1. One being like mine, i.e. horizontal lines of distortion/flicker, followed by freeze,
2. Another problem wherein vertical lines appear, but don't freeze the system, and
3. Screen failure, wherein the screen progressively darkens from top to bottom while running.

The first post reported that when Apple tried replacing the "Display Clamshell" it did nothing, nor did replacing the "MLB Assembly," but replacing the "logic board" seemed to solve his problem, and for 2 of 3 affected Ti's for another individual.

The repair box from Apple should arrive Monday am, and I'm going to enclose the text of some of that AppleCare discussion link. Hope my technician is keen on this problem, which seems to be more prevalent than we thought. Good luck to us all.

iBorg

iBorg · Jan 19, 2003, 04:06 AM

"One more thing......."

I just noticed that if I pickup my Ti while supporting it beneath the left side of the keyboard, that gentle pressure causes the screen distortion followed by freeze! Putting gentle pressure anywhere else on the case has no effect - only beneath the left side below the keyboard. It even occurs while running the Apple Hardware Test CD - I'd hoped to run it while causing the flicker, to see if it showed a faulty logic board, but it freezes up.

Also, the more pressure I place on this area, the more distorted it becomes, to the point of causing a plaid-pattern of colors! Releasing pressure returns the screen to a distortion free state, although remaining frozen. Reapplying pressure causes screen distortion to recur, etc.

ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Time to get my back-up Pismo out of storage, while awaiting Apple's magical repair to my (expensive) new toy .........

iBorg

keithv · Jan 19, 2003, 01:53 PM

I have an odd video problem with my new 1GHz/1GB Ram 10.2.3 Ti SD. DVD player plays the movie on a DVD disk fine, but during any 'special features' type documentaries etc, fast action is accompanied by some type of horizontal line distortion.

The problem exists on different DVD disks and is not noticable on my old (PC) laptop.

Any advice would be appreciated.

iBorg · Jan 20, 2003, 04:00 AM

Maybe it's just mrtew, gomac and myself having this problem, but mine's getting worse the longer I wait for my repair box!

Today, the "horizontal lines of screen distortion" problem started occuring several times while using on my desktop without moving it. However, without moving my Ti, it wouldn't freeze, and the screen distortion could be stopped by changing the angle of the screen!

Also today, on startup on 2 separate occasions the screen remained black, requiring a restart - the screen then lit up normally. I've already had problem with inability to awaken the screen after sleeping the Ti for more than a few minutes.

My repair box should be here tomorrow - wish me luck .....

iBorg

Big Mac · Jan 20, 2003, 06:22 AM

Wow, it sounds like there are some fundamental problems with the new PBs. I truly do feel sorry for those who are affected by all of this. Any of the symptoms the various posters have been describing would have caused me to have Apple Care on the phone right away, if I were in their shoes. We pay a premium for our machines, so I say demand excellence.

iBorg · Jan 20, 2003, 10:42 AM

Originally posted by Big Mac:
Wow, it sounds like there are some fundamental problems with the new PBs. I truly do feel sorry for those who are affected by all of this. Any of the symptoms the various posters have been describing would have caused me to have Apple Care on the phone right away, if I were in their shoes. We pay a premium for our machines, so I say demand excellence.

Well, as much as I wanted to get a "flawless" Ti, I'm hoping that a logic board replacement fixes mine. With all the readers/posters to these forums, I'm pleasantly surprised that only three of us has such problems as I'm experiencing.

And both mrtews and I have contacted AppleCare, and have our Ti's sent in for repair.

iBorg

goMac · Jan 20, 2003, 06:28 PM

yeah, I have the same "touch" problem. I will be calling applecare today (I am waiting on a phone call that may already be related to my PB from Apple).

I think I will try to whine my way to the 17". I'm not sure if I want to deal with another 15" with perhaps fan problems, touch the bottom problems, sleep problems, power adapter problems...